LAKE OSWEGO, Ore., Oct. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Greenbrier
Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX) announced today that it received an
order in its fourth quarter ended August 31,
2015 from the government-owned Saudi Railway Company (SAR)
for approximately 1,200 railroad tank cars. Three types of
tank cars will support industrial mining operations – led by the
national mining company, Ma'aden – at Wa'ad al Shamal Industrial
City in the Sirhan-Turaif region of northern Saudi Arabia.
The tank cars will facilitate rail transportation of molten sulfur
and phosphoric acid, products that are used in a range of
industrial activities.
Greenbrier will build the tank cars for SAR under U.S.
supervision and management at its wholly-owned Wagony Swidnica
subsidiary in Swidnica, Poland. Track dimensions in
Saudi Arabia are identical to
those in the United States, and
the tank cars will be built to U.S. standards on production lines
certified by the Association of American Railroads. Delivery of the
first tank cars to SAR will begin in the second half of calendar
year 2016, and will be completed in 2017 and 2018, depending on car
type.
Saudi Arabia is a member of the
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which also includes: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman,
Qatar and the United Arab
Emirates. A number of large-scale infrastructure projects are
either currently underway or being planned in the region. These
projects will require railroad rolling stock, repair and wheel
service facilities, and specialized know-how. As a result,
the aggregate railcar demand for GCC countries investing in rail is
expected to be strong through the next decade.
William A. Furman, Chairman and
CEO said, "Greenbrier is fully committed to its global
manufacturing network. We demonstrated this earlier in 2015
when we announced the reorganization of our Global Manufacturing
Operations business unit to ensure all of our manufacturing
activities in North America,
South America and Europe operate under common leadership and
follow shared best-practices manufacturing systems developed
through decades of experience and work with global partners like
Bombardier in Mexico and Amsted
Rail in Brazil. Our entry into Saudi Arabia's railcar market is a great honor
and a great responsibility as we participate with the Kingdom in
one of its premier economic development and engineering projects at
Wa'ad al Shamal City."
"To support our current activities in the Kingdom and secure
future business opportunities there and in neighboring GCC states,
we intend to hire and train Saudi employees who will create a
sustained base of operations in Saudi
Arabia. These highly trained and qualified employees will
create a vibrant and sustained operation in Saudi Arabia that supports and contributes to
the Kingdom's rail and infrastructure investments," Furman said.
"We are extraordinarily pleased to work with an enterprise of the
caliber of SAR. Through our work, we hope to help SAR meet
its objectives, create more employment opportunities for Saudi
engineers and technicians and assist the Kingdom with its broader
goals of economic growth and diversity. We will open offices
in Saudi Arabia, led by an on-site
Greenbrier country manager and supported by project managers in
Riyadh and at Wa'ad al Shamal
City."
About Greenbrier
Greenbrier, (www.gbrx.com),
headquartered in Lake Oswego,
Oregon, is a leading supplier of transportation equipment
and services to the railroad industry. Greenbrier builds new
railroad freight cars in our 4 manufacturing facilities in the U.S.
and Mexico and marine barges at
our U.S. manufacturing facility. Greenbrier also sells
reconditioned wheel sets and provides wheel services at 9 locations
throughout the U.S. We recondition, manufacture and sell
railcar parts at 4 U.S. sites. Greenbrier is a 50/50 joint
venture partner with Watco Companies, LLC in GBW Railcar Services,
LLC which repairs and refurbishes freight cars at 33 locations
across North America, including 12
tank car repair and maintenance facilities certified by the
Association of American Railroads. Greenbrier builds new railroad
freight cars and refurbishes freight cars for the European market
through our operations in Poland.
Greenbrier owns approximately 9,300 railcars, and performs
management services for approximately 260,000 railcars.
"SAFE HARBOR" STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION
REFORM ACT OF 1995: This press release may contain
forward-looking statements, including statements regarding expected
new railcar production volumes and schedules, expected customer
demand for the Company's products and services, plans to increase
manufacturing capacity, restructuring plans, new railcar delivery
volumes and schedules, growth in demand for the Company's railcar
services and parts business, and the Company's future financial
performance. Greenbrier uses words such as "anticipates,"
"believes," "forecast," "potential," "goal," "contemplates,"
"expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "hopes," "seeks,"
"estimates," "strategy," "could," "would," "should," "likely,"
"will," "may," "can," "designed to," "future," "foreseeable future"
and similar expressions to identify forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements are not
guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from in the results contemplated by the forward-looking
statements. Factors that might cause such a difference
include, but are not limited to, reported backlog and awards are
not indicative of our financial results; uncertainty or changes in
the credit markets and financial services industry; high levels of
indebtedness and compliance with the terms of our indebtedness;
write-downs of goodwill, intangibles and other assets in future
periods; sufficient availability of borrowing capacity;
fluctuations in demand for newly manufactured railcars or failure
to obtain orders as anticipated in developing forecasts; loss of
one or more significant customers; customer payment defaults or
related issues; sovereign risk to contracts, exchange rates or
property rights; actual future costs and the availability of
materials and a trained workforce; failure to design or manufacture
new products or technologies or to achieve certification or market
acceptance of new products or technologies; steel or specialty
component price fluctuations and availability and scrap surcharges;
changes in product mix and the mix between segments; labor
disputes, energy shortages or operating difficulties that might
disrupt manufacturing operations or the flow of cargo; production
difficulties and product delivery delays as a result of, among
other matters, inefficiencies associated with expansion or start-up
of production lines or increased production rates, changing
technologies, transfer of production between facilities or
non-performance of alliance partners, subcontractors or suppliers;
ability to obtain suitable contracts for the sale of leased
equipment and risks related to car hire and residual values;
integration of current or future acquisitions and establishment of
joint ventures; succession planning; discovery of defects in
railcars or services resulting in increased warranty costs or
litigation; physical damage or product or service liability claims
that exceed our insurance coverage; train derailments or other
accidents or claims that could subject us to legal claims; actions
or inactions by various regulatory agencies including potential
environmental remediation obligations or changing tank car or other
rail car or railroad regulation; and issues arising from
investigations of whistleblower complaints; all as may be discussed
in more detail under the headings "Risk Factors" and "Forward
Looking Statements" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
fiscal year ended August 31, 2014,
and our other reports on file with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance
on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's
opinions only as of the date hereof. Except as otherwise
required by law, we do not assume any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements.
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SOURCE The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (GBX)